21st Century Learning
At the beginning of the 21st Century during our first decade we had federal surpluses, at peace and in a great real estate market. As Yogi Bera stated “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Bill Sam of Ohio University spoke recently about social networks and augmented reality. In his discussion he pointed how new skill sets are being developed in our youth through computer games. He points out that these games are developing our fighter pilots are superior to any others on the planet, because they have 15 years of experience many times because of the amount of time they’ve spent in game simulations. I think of the time my son has spent playing Call of Duty and the amount of tactical knowledge he’s gained and the information he has processed about the weapons required to wage battle. It’s interesting and scary how much he’s picked up within game play. He’s even sought additional sources from the library to broaden his understanding of what’s happening.
Bill Sam talks about the new media literacy that we define for students and workers today. These are the new skill sets that are being developed and far deeper than their parents have ever done, because of the tools available to them. He talks about the tidal wave of participation in virtual worlds. The participation in virtual worlds has reached a critical mass within the youth culture. My son and daughter have avatars in worlds like Wizard 101, Webkinz and Cartoon Network. Most of the activity is occurring in the very young.
I think Virtual Worlds, Social Networks and Augmented Reality will synergize and create something larger and more innovative than mere social connectivity that facebook has created. Augmented Reality will bring together the social, virtual and mobile with print, audio, video and avatars. They synergy created with the coming together of these technologies will explode over the next 3 – 5 years. The way we interface with data will transform us and how we think and learn.
With new needs in the global economy the pressure to prepare the workforce to be competitive in it will become paramount. Once the is acknowledged the work on transforming education will reach critical mass and the world will take notice that P-16 education market is a 1.6 trillion dollar market. This market is second only to health care in what’s spent in the United States. We may begin seeing different models like open universities and such with embedded advertising models. These models will utilize current and new tools yet to be made. I think augmented reality tools will definitely be among the most leveraged in this new tool set.
References
Sams, B. (Producer). (2010, October 20, 2010) Virtual Worlds, Augmented Reality & Social Networks as Educational Media. retrieved from http://www.apple.com/itunes/
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